Salem Red Sox close out road trip with W

The Salem Red Sox offense lit up Winston starter Terance Marin in the opening innings, while Mike McCarthy dealt five strong frames for the Sox in Sunday’s 7-3 victory at BB&T Ballpark. The Sox rallied for three runs, all with two outs, in the top of the first, before adding two more in the top of the second. Up early, the Sox led wire-to-wire for the second straight day, bouncing back from Friday’s 10-1 thrashing to prevail in the final two games of the series.

The majority of Salem’s offensive output was produced by the five, six, and seven hitters, with Brandon Jacobs, Blake Swihart, Henry Ramos all going 2-for-4 with at least one extra base hit and RBI. The trio combined for four extra-base hits, four RBI, with Ramos driving in a pair. While Salem punched its way for ten hits, Garin Cecchini went 0-for-5, failing to reach base for the first time since April 18, snapping his 11-game hitting streak and 14-game on base streak.

McCarthy surrendered a first-inning home run to Chris Curley, but permitted just two baserunners in his final four frames on the bump. He earned the win to improve to 2-1, yielding just five hits and one run over five innings, with four strikeouts and no walks during his 78 pitch, 53 strike performance. Noe Ramirez gave up a pair of runs (only one earned) in the last of the seventh, while Nefi Ogando dealt the final two innings without allowing a run to take the Red Sox to the finish line.

Salem capitalized on its first inning opportunity with Keury De La Cruz lacing a RBI ground-rule double into the left-field corner, bringing home Nick Natoli from second. Jacobs followed with an RBI single, and Swihart smacked an RBI triple, propelling the Sox to a 3-0 lead before the Dash had a chance to bat. Curley’s homer made it 3-1, but the Sox quickly led 5-1 after adding a pair in the top of the second. Cecchini contributed an RBI ground-out that scored Bryan Johns, while Matty Johnson sprinted home from third on a wild pitch.

Ramos began the day 0-for-2, but drove in runs in each of his final two at-bats, singling home Jacobs in the sixth and tripling home Swihart in the eighth. With Swihart and Ramos each chipping in one triple, Salem now owns a league-best 15 three-baggers through 28 games, exactly one-fifth of the entire season. Swihart leads the league with five triples, accumulated in just 22 games played.

Victorious in the rubber match of the series against Winston, the Red Sox improved to 14-14 on the year heading into Monday’s scheduled off day. Salem returns to LewisGale Field on Tuesday night for a three-game series against the Carolina Mudcats. Kyle Kaminska will make the start in the opener opposite Mudcats righthander Joseph Colon, with the first pitch slated for 7:05.